The Glass-Bottom Boats Outlived Aquarena's Swimming Pig

Spring Lake holds several versions of San Marcos in the same water. Artesian springs rise from the Edwards Aquifer to form the lake and the headwaters of the San Marcos River. Archaeology shows that people have lived around these springs for thousands of years, long before anyone built a dam or sold a boat ticket.

In 1849, Edward Burleson dammed the river to power a gristmill, creating Spring Lake. A.B. Rogers bought the property in 1926, opened a hotel in 1929, and began turning the water into a visitor attraction. The first glass-bottom boats appeared in 1946. Aquarena Springs held its grand opening in 1950.

The old park was wonderfully odd. Visitors saw a submarine theater, Aquamaids, swimming clowns, and a swimming pig. By 1970, Aquarena had become the state's leading paid attraction, drawing fewer annual visitors only than the Alamo and State Capitol.

Texas State bought the 90-acre park in 1994 and shifted the site toward research, habitat care, and public education. The rides and underwater shows disappeared, but the glass-bottom boats stayed. They now carry visitors over the springs and aquatic habitat that the theme park once treated as scenery.